Years of Service Programs: Is Your's Really Working For You?

Only handing a well respected employee a high valued piece of acrylic with their name and their hire date engraved on it as a celebration of a decade of professional excellence has become a stereotype on par with putting an apple on the desk of the teacher on the first day of school. Expectations and needs have changed. Today’s employees have a much higher expectation of their employers than a teacher has for their eight-year-olds, and a teacher isn’t really going to go shopping around for a class with a better appreciation of their educational skills. So ask yourself, are your Years of Service Recognition habits up to the level of the talent you want to attract and retain? Or are you trying to recruit and engage the top-of-class in your field with nice shiny red apples?

At C.A. Short Company, we believe that a core, formal recognition program like a traditional Years of Service Award Program is foundational to your total recognition strategy. Like we mentioned, your Years of Service Award Program needs to be the foundation. However, the marketplace and your employees expect more. The "Next Generation" is expecting an Employee Recognition Platform that is adapted for the modern organization; one that will enhance your company's competitiveness in the current job market, and keep you efficient and effective in implementing individual, employee recognition strategies. We see great value in taking the standard Years of Service recognition concept, upgrading the current and expanding it to truly reflect the value of each individual employee within your organization. We want to:

• Encourage communication between employees and leaders, accentuating your mission and values. Let’s make it easier to keep the vision alive.
• Offer a a fun and exciting, online, environment for sharing, appreciating and recognizing everyone's accomplishments and accolades.
• Provide information on topics and ideas most relevant to your employees. Information flow is vital for growth.
• Offer "pulse checks" on your staff and their engagement with your culture. Keeping your leadership informed and prepared makes them that much more effective.
• Maximize Peer 2 Peer Recognition leading to powerful cultures that set you apart. Let’s foster healthy relationships between coworkers.
• Keep manager scorecards to provide you insights on how engaged they are and how they're driving key initiatives. Make sure your leaders are staying sharp!
• Provide training tools available for those that want to invest in themselves. Let’s increase the value of your current workforce.
• Collect that Vital Data that allows you to understand your People and your Culture better. Isn't this what it's really all about?

If your current Employee Recognition Program and systems are falling far short of this, then they are not doing their job in helping you establish a healthy organizational culture that filters out from a core of solid employee support.

If you have questions, or want to put your current Years of Service Program to the test, give a half-hour of your time to a Certified Recognition Professional at C.A. Short Company. We’ll walk through your current system and take a look at how it is, or isn’t working for you, give some suggestions, and make some recommendations. Don’t waste any more time doubting the effectiveness of your current Employee Recognition Program. We're here to ensure you have a program that is effortless, but personal. You need a program that realistically conveys to your employees that you value them and their contribution to your organization. Let’s leave the shiny red apples for the eight-year-olds.